So, I’ve been obsessing over this book lately—Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara.

On the surface, it’s a memoir about how Guidara took a good restaurant (Eleven Madison Park) and turned it into the literal #1 restaurant in the world. But honestly? It’s not really about food. It’s about how to make people feel seen in a world that’s obsessed with efficiency.

I wrote a whole deep-dive on my other website about it, but I wanted to share the best parts with you fine folks here, because the philosophy is just so wise. It applies whether you’re running a startup, leading a team, or just trying to be a better professional.

Here are the three big ideas that stuck with me.

1. The $2 Hot Dog Story

Okay, this is the legendary story from the book.

Will is running this fancy, three-Michelin-star dining room. A table of four foodies is there, and they’ve been eating at all the best spots in New York. Will overhears them saying, “We’ve had amazing food, but the only thing we didn’t get to try was a dirty water hot dog from a street cart.”

Now, a normal manager ignores that. A “professional” manager might recommend a hot dog place for tomorrow.

Will runs out to a street corner, buys a $2 hot dog, runs back to the kitchen, and asks the chef to plate it beautifully with fancy mustard and sauerkraut. They serve it as a surprise course.

The guests lost their minds. They didn’t care about the expensive foie gras or the aged duck. They cared about the hot dog. Why? Because it proved someone was listening.

The takeaway for us: Stop doing just what’s expected. In my own review, I compared this to a consultant keeping a “Tech Triage Kit” (chargers, dongles, painkillers) for stressed clients. It’s a tiny gesture that says, “I see you, and I’ve got you.”

2. The 95/5 Rule (How to afford the “Unreasonable”)

You might be thinking, “That sounds expensive.” But here’s the genius part. Guidara didn’t just throw money around. He used something called the 95/5 Rule.

He managed 95% of the budget like a miser. He cut costs on the invisible stuff—the cling wrap, the back-office supplies, the mundane operations. He was ruthlessly efficient there.

Why? So he could blow the remaining 5% on things that were “unreasonable.”

This is such a smart way to live. You don’t need to be premium everywhere. Be frugal on the boring stuff so you have the slack to be incredibly generous on the stuff people actually remember.

3. Celebrating the Losses

We all know we should celebrate wins. That’s easy. Pop the champagne when the deal signs.

But Guidara did the opposite. When the restaurant had a terrible night—when the kitchen crashed or they lost a big review—he didn’t scream. He would crack open the expensive wine or serve the high-end staff meal.

He called it “Celebrating the Losses.”

I love this concept. When your team wins, they already feel good. But when they try hard and fail? That’s when they feel vulnerable. That’s when culture is actually built. If you can break bread together after a failure, you build psychological safety. You teach your friends (or employees) that the effort matters more than the scoreboard.

The Bottom Line We live in a world of “transactional efficiency.” We want to automate everything. We want to speed everything up.

This book is a reminder that efficiency is often the enemy of connection. Sometimes, you need to waste a little time. Sometimes, you need to buy the hot dog.

It’s a fantastic read. Highly recommend picking it up.